Vultures
by Helvetica Black
Summary: A broken marriage, a daughter who hardly talked to her, a distant best friend, and a changed world. This wasn't the life she wanted for herself. The old Bella would have crumbled. The old Bella would have given up. It's a good thing she wasn't that Bella anymore. (RATED M FOR A REASON. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)
1. Want

**This all happens after Breaking Dawn.**

**A/N: Well, here it is, the Aro-Bella I'd been losing sleep over. I was sick of all the Edward vs. Jacob drama in a lot of fanfics I'd seen here, so I thought I should write about Aro instead, just to spite these mainstreamers. But that's not to say that I'm the first one to do this, oh no. I'm not about to take credit for that. All I'm saying is, I think Aro-Bella is different. And different is good. Different is cool. Different is...**

**Wait. I'm babbling.**

**Read on!**

* * *

"Bella."

My name. I've heard Edward Cullen say my name far too many times and in far too many ways: with reverence, with anger, with love, with sadness, and at times even with hopelessness. But when my husband sighed my name with pure adoration as he kissed my lips, I imagined my name being whispered by another. I knew he wouldn't say it exactly the same way Edward always did. No, this other man seemed to like saying my name very differently, preferred the first three syllables of it rather than the last two. When my name first rolled off his tongue the very first time we met, it elicited fear in me. Copious amounts of fear. And yet also, strangely, a little bit of excitement over the way his tongue seemed to taste my name, making it into something deliciously carnal and forbidden.

"You're beautiful, my love." Edward murmured against my cheek as his hands worshipped my body. I shuddered with shame and arousal, shame at my wayward thoughts, and arousal for the beautiful man that seemed to love me more than his own life. Oh, the sex was always gratifying, but it was always more than just the act for both of us. He loved me with a passion that bordered on madness, and I loved him more than anything in the world. But recently, I began to feel... different. A couple of weeks ago, the other man's face began to plague my sleepless nights.

"I could spend forever just loving you, Bella." Edward entered me slowly, savoring the feel of me, the sweet decadence of my sex. I found myself bearing down on him, feeling the veins throb along his shaft. I remembered the first time I laid eyes on it, remembered how distinctly male it was. Edward was sinfully beautiful, almost angelic, but that one part of his remained animal. The image of his sex was seared into my brain. Its thrust had always been aggressive; its thickness almost frightening. The bush of golden curls around its base inspired contrary urges to tug or snip. His shaft was fat and dark, glistening now along its length and vibrating with excitement. I could see its every texture, every individual dip and swell. His penis could not be mistaken for anything but a part of the human body. Not marble. Not jade. This was living flesh, inextricably linked to the basest, most primitive functions of the male, and I loved that part of Edward. But for one split second, I pictured the other man's cock, as that man's voice seemed to come from Edward's throat as a moan. The rich tenor of that voice had me quivering with an indescribable pleasure, and I pumped my hips back, desperate for any kind of friction inside me.

_Isabel..._

"Bella!" Edward yelled as he thrust his hips with a vengeance, pulling me back from my shameful thoughts, reminding me it was him I was with, and not that other man.

I didn't want the other man, really.

I loved Edward. He was my life and more. He was my universe, the sole reason I existed. I desired him more than I wanted anything.

But the other man's face, that man's voice...

"Oh God, Bella..." The motion of Edward's hips accelerated. I hooked my leg behind his, bracing to meet each desperate drive. The muscles of his thighs were living steel, propelling him inward, upward.

Irises not gold, but crimson.

Hair not reddish gold, but jet black.

I moaned as the excitement overwhelmed me. Edward's chest labored for air, air he didn't need. His cries were those of an animal. My orgasm began to unfurl under the assault, red and thick and glittering with spikes of delight. The intensity of my rise was frightening, as if I were poised to plunge off a cliff. Higher I soared. Higher. And as I exploded to a million pieces he caught me in his arms and with his lips, moaning my name like it was air to a drowning man.

"Bella."

I gasped and kissed Edward with a renewed fervor, with an ardent urgency as I imagined him to be this other man, the man I feared most yet seemed to desire even more.

"I love you, Bella." Edward whispered.

I sobbed, my heart trapped between joy and shame, and I whispered softly back, so softly that only he could hear it, "I love you, Edward."

Because it was true. I did love him, only not enough.


	2. Isabel

"I'm doing this, Edward. Whether or not you agree."

"No, love. Please. Please don't do this." Edward begged. He tried to scare me into backing out of my plans, but when that didn't work, he resorted to begging instead. I failed to see what the big deal was. I was only going to visit the Volturi, like I did last year and the year before that. It was my job as the shield of the Faction. Since the confrontation with the Volturi three years ago, which had been dubbed as the "Renesmee Affair," life had been pretty much peaceful. The council feared the vampire conglomeration—the Faction—that Carlisle and Alice had assembled, and seemed to have toned down their sadistic conquests after that.

Just toned down. They were all, however, still a bunch of sadistic retards.

But we can't complain. Along the way, we realized that the Volturi were quite indispensable. A necessary evil to keep vamps in line. And though freedom smelled like flowers and sunshine, Carlisle, Eleazar, Siobhan, Kachiri, Amun, and Stefan, heads of the six covens of the Faction, all agreed that autonomy does not what vampires make. Freedom wasn't worth the consequences. When new vampires came to replace the old, those new ones wouldn't understand the importance of restrain and secrecy, and without the Volturi there to control things, matters were bound to get out of hand.

It was cool hearing the old ones debate about the Volturi. Everything they said just made a lot of sense. Freedom and power were intoxicating, and vampirekind already had too much power, so freedom was a risk we couldn't take. We would be like a bunch of hungry lions let loose upon civilization. Well, more like very, very strong and very, very, _very_ indestructible and hungry lions. I remember Carlisle mention that a vampire government can't exist as a democracy. He didn't like admitting it, but he said that it was way too easy to do wrong, too easy to do things that had irrevocable consequences. And if our little band of vampires couldn't step up to the plate—couldn't be the tyrants that vampirekind needed—then there was no reason to kick the Volturi out of their seats in the first place. To the rest of vampire society, the Faction didn't exist. As long as the Volturi didn't threaten the Faction and as long as they didn't let us catch them abusing their "power," we would keep our silence. We didn't really care about much else.

Okay, that's a lie. We did care, especially about the vampire killings, but they're the Volturi. It's their thing. They're the punishers, and had to kill to keep to their rules. It was sad, a compromise that the Faction wasn't happy to take, but apparently had to.

Politics.

So we'd let them keep their so-called "power" if they steered clear of the Faction and didn't go on vampire massacre sprees. Well, unjustified vampire massacre sprees, at least. The Volturi had a leash on vampire society and we had a leash on _them._

Of course, Aro, Marcus and Caius didn't quite name the terms that way. To those not part of the agreement, it looked just like that. An agreement. Like the Italian vampires were just letting us go. But that wasn't the case. The Volturi knew we had power over them, and we knew that they knew. That was enough. So really, _we_ were the ones who let _them_ off the hook. It's funny how easy things turn out to be when the most powerful vampires are scared of you.

Well, scared of me, at least. Especially me.

So, with all that said, I didn't understand why Edward was so freaked about my visiting the Volturi again.

"Wow. You look like... like a freaking supermodel about to walk out on her husband. " Jacob mumbled as he scarfed down a burger that Esmé cooked before going up north to hunt with Carlisle and Jasper. Alice hunted with Rosalie and Emmett, and they ran east.

"Not right now, Jake." I snarled.

"Okay," Jacob surrendered. He raised his palms up and smiled apologetically. "You know he just wants to keep you safe, right? I would have done the same thing, if I were him."

I stared at Edward, who only stared back at me. I turned my attention to Jacob. "You're eating a burger, Jake. How is that keeping me safe?"

He shrugged and stuffed himself with more food. Edward stood by the staircase and glared at me. I ignored him.

"Why does anyone have to keep me safe?" I asked, incredulous. "Hadn't I been kept _safe_ enough while I was human? Just how delicious-smelling could I possibly be to be in that much danger from vampires?"

Jacob shrugged again and reached out to grab another burger. I dropped two suitcases on his feet, and he yelped. "Ow! What was that for?"

"I asked you questions." I growled. "I don't like it when I ask you questions and you don't answer. I don't like talking to walls."

I couldn't help it. I was pissed. Way pissed. More at myself than at Jacob or Edward. I wasn't quite able to get over the fact that I was imagining another man's face while Edward and I had sex. Or the fact that Edward seemed intent on smothering the independence out of me, but mostly I was unsettled by the other man. I didn't like him. Even though I trumped him in his game, he still scared the living crap out of me. He made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. He gave me the creeps.

"Sorry, Bells. I thought your questions were rhetorical." Jacob surmised. "Did you really want me to answer them? Okay, I'm eating my burgers because I've used just about every single bit of energy in my body scouring the state for your notorious vampire. Massacred another human family two days ago, that bloodsucker. Lost his trail just at the edge of the woods, eleven miles from here. So yes, my eating burgers is keeping you safe. Keeping you all safe. Because just the fact that you're supposed to be this super vampire with magical mumbo-jumbo going on, doesn't mean you're invincible."

"I can take care of myself," I spat at him.

"Well, that doesn't really matter, since I'm not talking about you." he quipped.

"Renesmee." I whispered. Of course.

"Exactly." Jacob said. "I'm meeting up with Sam's pack in twenty minutes to be on the lookout again. I'm tired, filthy, sleepy and hungry. My job sucks enough without you growling and hissing all over the place."

I glared at him, then tried to calm myself by taking a deep, cleansing, unnecessary breath.

"Where's Renesmee?" I asked Edward.

"Asleep in her room, love." he replied as he swiftly went to my side. In an instant, I found him kissing my cheeks and holding me in a tight embrace. When I crushed my lips against his and moaned, I heard Jacob almost choke on his burger.

"I'll just—" The wolf sputtered. He gathered food on his plate and stood up to leave. "Uh, I'll... eat somewhere else. Yeah."

Edward chuckled as he watched Jake leave in a hurry.

"Are you sure I can't convince you not to go?" Edward whispered huskily at my ear. "If you stay the night, I'd make sure you'll never want to leave, Bella."

"Scare tactics, begging, and now, seduction maneuvers?" I chuckled. "Cute. You're not really stopping me anyway. You're not even trying. You would have done more than just this if you really didn't want me to leave. I know you." I kissed his cheek.

"Of course you do," he said. "And I know you too. There was nothing I could have done to stop you. You were pretty hard to control even as a human."

"_Control_?"

"Please, Bella, stay." He landed another kiss at my throat and I sighed.

_Isabel._

I wrenched myself from his embrace. "I have to go. Wouldn't want to say goodbye to everyone all over again when they come back." I picked up the suitcases and went to the garage. I was welcomed by the imposing sight of many luxury cars, two of which were mine. Without another thought, I approached my Ferrari and dumped the suitcases on the passenger seat.

"Not my Volvo this time?" Edward teased.

I grinned. "Well, it's your car..."

He smiled. "You only have to ask, love." he carried me and loaded the bags into his car and laughed, and I laughed with him, but the sound rang empty in my ears as I pondered his words.

I only had to ask.

I realized that the cars, the gifts, the perfect life, the memories, his love, and his heart, were all things I never asked for.


	3. Audio Transcription 1

**AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION 1**

Doctor: I just pushed the record button. Shall we start?

Patient: Whatever you say.

Doctor: How are you feeling?

Patient: (laughs) I feel fine. Now, I imagine this will be my last footprint in this world. Is there a better interrogator? I want this record of me to be interesting.

Doctor: Do you have another person in mind?

Patient: (pauses) No. I just don't feel comfortable confiding my deepest secrets to you. You are one of them. I remember that you voted for my death.

Doctor: I'm sorry, child. I never would have agreed to it if I had a choice.

Patient: If you had a choice? An amusing choice of words, if I might say. Could you have been under the stress of torture, or maybe under compulsion, that you couldn't have had a choice?

Doctor: I understand your anger, and I apologize. What I meant to say is that I wouldn't carelessly inflict this on anyone. I respect life, even one such as yours.

Patient: And what would that be? A damned life? A murderer's life? An _anomaly's_ life? I don't want your pity, doctor. It's disgusting.

Doctor: Then I won't give you my pity. You will, however, be given my respect.

Patient: (laughs) We are wasting time. I suggest you start with your questions.

Doctor: ... I can only think of one. Why did you do it?

Patient: Philosophy? Skipping the who, what, when, where and how already? I guess that is the only question that really matters, isn't it? Here is your answer, doctor: there is no _reason_. There is no _why_. Why do humans believe in gods and deities? Why does life end? Why do I exist? Why did I do what I did? They just do, it just does, I just do, and I just did them.

Doctor: You won't justify your crimes? Not even explain why you did them? I'm sure you want people to know why, to leave an explanation of sorts.

Patient: (smiles) Patience, doctor. You expect to gather too much information on the first interrogation. We have six more sessions.

Doctor: (sighs) Then please start from the very beginning. Where you think you began to change into who you are now. It could be your very first kill, or your very first love. The first death you've witnessed. The first scorching burn of thirst. Anything. Start from the first change, the first spark of the idea that began all this.

Patient: I'm afraid I can't do that, doctor. I can't tell you when the change started.

Doctor: Why is that?

Patient: (smiles) Because there was never a change. I was always this way.


	4. Volturi

Volterra was a place of nightmares for me. I would even go so far as to say that the place was a nightmare itself. Most of my human memories were blurry and clouded, but my first memories of Volterra were almost as sharp and as distinct as my vampire memories. The fear I felt when Felix was about to snap Edward's neck and the revulsion I felt when Aro held my hand as he hoped to see my memories, the emotions were so strong I could still taste them on my tongue.

Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to my visiting the Italian vampires.

The plane's takeoff was terrible, what with the roaring engine of the plane, and the rest of the plane ride to Italy was uneventful. I found myself silently dreading my arrival at Volterra.

I didn't care how beautiful Volterra was, how distinctly historical the place seemed. I guess I would have, if I were the oblivious human I once was. The Palazzo dei Priori would have taken my breath away. Rosso Fiorentino's altarpiece painting, _Deposition_, which sat in Volterra's Pinacoteca Comunale, would have amazed me and blown me off my feet. But I wasn't visiting Volterra to gape at historical landmarks and to stare at buildings. I was going to Volterra, Italy for one purpose, and one purpose alone—to convene with the Volturi.

"You need help with bags, _signorina_ Isabel?"

My head snapped up in attention as a human boy, probably not even older than I was before I was turned, touched my shoulder in concern. His English was heavily accented and strained with effort, and I suddenly realized that this boy snuck up on me. I felt the blood thrum in the veins of his palm, I breathed in to calm myself. I wasn't used to people sneaking up on me. It was hard to sneak up on a vampire. But then the airport was crowded and brimming with people, so the collective noises probably cancelled out the boy's approach.

The scent of humans filled my nose and my head. A familiar dryness made itself known in my throat.

"You are?" I asked, noticing that my voice sounded a little too breathless and sultry.

And thirsty.

I swallowed the venom that pooled in my mouth and tried to execute Smile #8: Big and Toothy.

The boy's eyes widened and he sputtered, "A-Alessio Forelli, si-signorina Isabel." He bowed and continued to stare at me like a sunflower gazing at the sun. "I am _persona di servizio_ and I must lead you to car." I chuckled as I remembered accusing Edward of the very same thing I was doing to the poor boy.

Dazzling people seemed to be a vampire thing. And I thought it was just an Edward thing.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it anyway.

"A _fotografia_, signorina." he said as he pulled out a picture from his shirt pocket. It was the same one that the other errand boys showed me on my previous trips to Italy—in the photo I was with the Volturi and the six Faction heads, my very visible frown a harsh contrast to the expressionless and cold faces of the others. My face was encircled with a red marker. I pocketed the photo and saw the boy frown as I did it.

I continued smiling at the boy as he lifted my bags. "My name's not Isabel. It's Isabella. People call me Bella."

The looked thoughtful for a moment. "Bella." he tested. "It is fitting, for your name means 'beautiful' in our language."

I chuckled. "And you should probably know, I'm not a _signorina_. I'm married, Alessio."

He dropped one of my suitcases and gaped at me. "M-married?

I nodded. "Happily."

Though maybe not quite as happily as I expected to be.

"_Mi dispiace_, but you are young!"

"I'm baby-faced." I said smoothly. It wasn't a lie, and I was enjoying the boy's floundering. "I'm twenty-two years old. And I already have a daughter."

"Your own _bambina_? You do not have the look of it, _signora_."

I laughed. "You're flattering me, Alessio. For one so young, you sure know how to charm ladies."

He frowned. "I am not a _bambino_. I am already _quindici anni_. Fifteen years old."

His defensiveness made me chuckle. "Of course you are."

"Good evening, Mrs. Cullen." a deep voice boomed from the open window of the black Maserati GranTurismo in front of me. Alessio loaded my bags in the trunk and meekly ushered me into the ridiculous contraption. What was it with vampires and their absurd lust for luxury cars? Last year it was a cherry red Lancia Thema. And the year before that, it was a purple Lamborghini Sesto Elemento. I sat in the Maserati's passenger seat and I almost sank in the plush red leather. I cursed the car in annoyance. I guess not even immortality could change that part of me.

Felix handed Alessio a thick roll of euros, and the boy's eyes went so wide, they looked about to fall from their sockets.

"Felix," I mumbled as I watched Alessio walk away in a daze. "Where's the usual chauffeur?"

Felix looked at me from the rear view mirror and sniggered. "Dead and in pieces, _meno male_. Ventured too far in at the wrong time. I say good riddance."

I frowned, silently praying for the old man. I exhaled the rage out of me before I spoke, with the impassive tone I'd practiced so hard to master, "That's horrible."

"Yes, yes, I know all about your food preference," he said with an awful smile. "As you know mine."

I swallowed down the multitude of expletives that threatened to burst from my mouth.

I wasn't about to ruin the shaky relationship the Faction had with the Volturi. I wasn't the same vampire I was three years ago, too easy to express her opinions. No.

Though I _can_ beat Felix one-on-one, and though the Volturi feared me, I had no doubt that I'd be eviscerated would they decide to gang up on me. They didn't know that yet, and there was no reason for me to make them want to try to find out. I wasn't about to push my luck. Not with them.

If there was one thing I learned from the dealings with the six vampire heads of the Faction and the three kings of the Volturi, it was that I shouldn't be hasty about saying anything. Everything should be measured, every word calculated. Every facial expression was going to be watched, and therefore should be used sparingly.

My interactions with the Volturi always followed the Miranda warning:

_Everything you say can and will be used against you._

It's like a mantra for me.

Sometimes I wondered what my life would be like if I weren't a vampire. It wasn't that I hated my life with Edward, with the Cullens and my daughter Renesmee, but there were times I can't help but wonder what my life would have been if it never connected with Edward's.

What if Edward was able to read my mind and never got interested in me?

What if I didn't smell "exactly like his brand of heroin"?

What if I never moved to Forks?

Because even I knew that Edward's interest in me started with only those two things—he wasn't able to read my mind, and I smelled like a feast to him. I didn't doubt his love for me now, but I knew that love always started with simple things, and as for his love for me, it started with these things. If those things didn't exist, what would have happened?

Would I have had a different life? Definitely. But would I have found happiness?

"How fares your daughter?" Felix asked me, cutting into my reverie.

I fought the urge to snarl at him. I schooled my face into the impassive expression that was so characteristic of vampires. "She _fares_ fine." I said, trying but not quite succeeding to keep the bite out of my voice.

He stared at me through the rear view mirror. His face seemed dubious. "That is good."

I blinked. Or maybe I didn't. But I definitely held my breath. Where was his weird attitude coming from?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He placed his attention on the road again, the strange moment gone. "I mean it is good that your daughter is well." he muttered with annoyance.

We cruised past fields and vineyards on the way to Volterra. The trip was fast, over before I even finished wondering about Felix's strange behavior. I was ushered into the Volturi lair by Jane and Demetri, who both glared daggers at me.

It's nice to know that some things never change.

The three kings of the Volturi were sitting on their thrones when I entered the room, their red irises glowing unusually bright with every step I took closer to them.

My eyes landed on Aro. He was smiling. His perfect teeth glistened under the moonlight that streamed down from the small windows of the room. He stood from his throne and stared at my hips and my neck, before finally fixing his gaze on my face. He spread his arms wide in greeting, the same arms I'd imagined around me as Edward made love to me...

"Isabel!" exclaimed Aro with child-like glee. I shivered upon hearing his voice. I stepped closer to him and he hugged me tightly. I inhaled his scent and realized he was doing the same to mine. "I still want you, beautiful Isabel." he whispered, the words so soft, softer than featherfall, and I was the only one who heard him.

I barely noticed Jane hissing at the corner of the room.

Of course Aro still wanted me to join him. I was the only one who trumped him in his game, save for Edward and Alice, and they were both hopeless cases for him.

I wished Aro would finally realize I was a hopeless case, too.

My answer was automatic and rehearsed. "I know."

I focused on the task at hand and pulled myself away from him, my face already a stoic mask of ice.

"Aro," I greeted flatly. I turned to the other kings and nodded, "Caius, Marcus."

"Shield," Marcus and Caius acknowledged.

"How many this year?" I asked Caius. The Volturi no longer killed on sight after the Renesmee Affair. It was part of their pact with the Faction. Or the Faction's threat, depending on who you'd ask. Now the Italian council held their suspects prisoner. Which was why Alec was missing—it was his job to keep the prisoners captive until the yearly trial, the trial always held in my presence.

"One." Caius grumbled in annoyance. He never liked having to answer my questions. His hate for me was second only to Jane's.

I raised my brow at him. "One?"

Contrary to popular belief, vampires actually rarely committed crimes. Well, crimes that endangered vampirekind, at least. there were only so few vampires in the world, and a lot of them were old, and in some way, wise. My previous visits to Volterra were actually boring, since there was nobody to be held to trial. And my visits always lasted two weeks. A _fortnight of tedium_, as Heidi—the last member of the annihilated English coven—would say.

"One." Marcus confirmed. "It is that vampire your sister brought three years ago. Huilen is her name, I believe."

Aro stared at me for a long time, his crimson eyes having seen all and forgotten none. He stood just two feet away from me, and my skin began to prickle in fear.

No. Huilen was a friend of the Faction. She loved life. She respected the secrecy. She couldn't have committed a crime.

"It is unfortunate," Aro began, "But it seems she killed her nephew, and his father and sisters."


	5. Secret

There was no denial. No explanation, no care, no begging for her life to be spared. Huilen was prepared to die when she surrendered herself to the Volturi. When she recovered from the numbness brought about by Alec's ability, she hadn't even bothered to defend or to explain herself.

"Well, now, Huilen, this is quite the interesting turn of events." said Aro.

I fought the urge to slap the Italian vampire as he rambled on about how sad he was for the loss of the half-human vampires and how great of a tragedy it was that lives were lost. If I didn't know better, I would have believed his sentiments to be sincere. But as it was, he ordered many deaths in his very long lifetime, far too many for me to count. I'd known for a long time that Aro was a sanctimonious bastard.

Huilen just stood there, with her arms held in a lock by Santiago and Felix, her crimson eyes wide as she stared at Aro with complete incredulity. "I am here for my sentence, not for your pretty words."

Her cloying Hispanic voice sent me a blast of déjà vu. Three years ago, that same voice saved my daughter's life, saved my family. I could hardly believe that Huilen could hurt her nephew, Nahuel, much less kill him.

Aro glanced at Jane and nodded, and in an instant Huilen was hanging on to the two guards that held her, writhing and screaming soundlessly in mindless panic and pain.

And I was powerless to stop it.

In this place, the guise of power was with the Volturi. There was no Faction here. That was the agreement. At the moment, I was part of the Volturi guard, privileged but powerless. Trapped by a pact made by vampires who couldn't even work up the energy or the effort to convene with the Volturi themselves.

Exposure to so much deception and half-truths did something to me. A year after the Renesmee affair, I went to Volterra to convene with the vampire council for the first time. I was just twenty years old. I was a naive, vulnerable, yet extremely powerful vampire. I may not have trusted the Volturi, but I wasn't well-versed in politics. I thought all I had to do was visit the Volturi and that was it. I wasn't ready to do so much lying, to do so much pretending.

_Love thy enemies and hate thy friends_ was my motto. I thought it was all simple. Little did I know that my enemies and friends were actually more alike than I imagined.

Last year, the Volturi showed me things I never wanted to see, showed me a side of my vampire friends that was so grotesque, it still haunted me in my idle hours. I saw that even my friends were horrid. The other covens of the Faction may have been kind, but when I witnessed Aro, Marcus and Caius feeding on humans, I never saw my friends the same way again. It's not like I just realized that they drank human blood, I'd known that since I met them. The red irises were a dead giveaway. I knew that they drank human blood, but it never really clicked for me how wrong it all was until I saw an actual feeding.

It was nothing like the animal hunts that my family did. Nothing like the wrestling of bears and deer and the fights with mountain lions. It was all so different, because it seemed so much easier. And because I'd once experienced the human side of it.

Actually, no matter how good a human smelled, I was sure I'd never be driven to kill that human. The fact that it was all too easy to kill them made the thought of the act even more terrifying to me. Yet all these other vampires seemed to have no qualms about killing people. Oh, I'm sure they had a little sob story or two about their tragic first kill—or about how so very sad they were that they had to kill humans but it's all part of the food chain—but in the end they ended up doing what they did anyway. They killed people. On a regular basis, too.

Vampires needed blood regularly. So how many people did the old ones kill? Hundreds? Thousands?

Were the Denalis and my family the only vampires aware of the fact that vampires used to be human?

It was probably the sight of the Volturi feeding on humans or just plain learning by observation, but eventually, I lost my ability to blindly trust vampires besides my family. Which was just as well, since most vampires didn't do trust. Looking back on my naïveté before I learned all that almost made me laugh. I was such a simpleton, no better than a blubbering baby.

But that blubbering baby was no more, aged by experience and toughened by the slippery politics of vampires.

And from what I gathered from slippery vampire politics, I was supposed to stand still behind Aro's throne and pretend to be part of the Volturi guard as Jane indulged her sadistic tendencies in Huilen. I wasn't about to risk myself for a vampire whose character was questionable at best. I may have known Huilen, but time can change anyone.

Or so I told myself, just to keep from just extending my shield over to her and saving her from the torture. Maybe I wasn't so tough after all.

I experienced something like this from the other side of the throne room before. The first time I met the vampire council, Edward and I were about to be executed. But this time it's Huilen who's about to be killed. This time I stood behind Aro's throne. This time I pretended to be part of the Volturi guard because though Huilen knew the vampires of the Faction, she didn't know we made an official group.

What the rest of vampire society knew was that I was one of Aro's jewels.

I guess in a way, Aro already got what he wanted.

Jane suddenly stopped her minstrations, probably due to some unseen command from Aro.

"Explain yourself, Huilen." Aro commanded. He sounded so powerful, so utterly heartless. Gone was the playful vampire who thought of everything as a game.

Huilen's eyes were wild—they seemed to be staring at things that nobody else could see. She hadn't even noticed the change in Aro's demeanor.

"I killed Joham because he is an abomination! I had always hated that monster for killing Pire, my dearest sister. For getting her with his demon child, that bastard Nahuel. But I did not know how to kill such a demon. I had never seen a demon die, so I did not know how to deliver death to one. After I had seen you kill that woman, I finally knew!"

She meant Irina. Irina was killed by the Volturi during the Renesmee Affair, and Huilen saw it all happen. It made sense. But...

"Your nephew isn't the same creature as the one we executed," said Marcus, as if reading my thoughts. "He is half-human. Not a complete vampire."

"_Vampire_, half-_vampire_, I do not know those words. Nahuel was the demon that gutted my sister and made me into a demon as well. He deserved death as much as his father did."

"And what of the sisters?"asked Aro. "What did you deem them guilty of?"

"Association." Huilen replied.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Guilty." Aro declared.

"Guilty." Marcus agreed.

"Not guilty." Caius asserted.

Aro and Marcus turned to look at Caius, waiting for an explanation.

"I agree that the half-breeds are an abomination." Caius growled. "You remember that I advised we rid ourselves of her _child_," he pointed a pale finger at my direction, "and follow the aberration south. But you didn't listen. I'm glad that those half-breeds are dead."

"Now, now, Isabel, nothing bad will befall your lovely Renesmee. Calm now." Aro crooned, his mouth wore a comforting smile, but his burgundy eyes were wide with unease.

I didn't realize that I was snarling at Caius.

I stared at Aro and showed him the threat that hid just behind my obedient "Yes, master."

He nodded solemnly and gestured for me to come closer. It was time to give my verdict. I could either side with Aro and Marcus, which would lead to Huilen's immediate execution, or I could side with Caius, in which case I would even out the votes, thus requiring the Faction's interference.

But that wouldn't be necessary.

I leaned in until my mouth was just a breath away from kissing the tips of his ears, and for a second I was tempted to move just a hairbreadth closer. His hair smelled of old parchments and his breath smelled of the rich aroma of human blood. He must have just fed before I arrived. The combination was both heady and addicting.

I breathed in his scent before whispering, in a voice so soft that only he could have heard it, "Guilty."

I watched from beside the vampire king, emotionless, uncaring and aloof, my hand on his shoulder and no longer caring about pretending to be Volturi, as Huilen was dismembered and thrown into flames.

After Huilen's execution everyone was silent, still, as if waiting for her to come to life. It seemed to me as if they were paying their respects to the dead. How the old, heartless vampires who had so emotionlessly watched Huilen'sgruesome death were able to do such a kind gesture, however, was beyond me. But I found myself doing the same. And even hours later, as I unpacked my bags in the suite that was assigned to me, I pondered Huilen's death. Until Aro knocked at my door. Reluctantly, I let him in.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. No_ beautiful Isabel_, no compliments. I looked at him and saw his beautiful face in stark relief under the light. His face bore no fear, no guilt and no shame. It was almost blank, like a canvas waiting for an artist to paint on it.

How was I feeling? I was appalled at my apparent cruelty. Shocked by my lack of guilt after I'd just ordered someone's death. Exhausted and weary of the things I'd been dealing with. Thirsty. Conflicted. Aroused.

"I feel fine." I replied as I resumed unpacking my clothes. "Was that why Felix was asking me about Renesmee? Because she's the only half-vampire left?"

"I'm more surprised that he's capable of worry at all," he replied. Even with my back to him, I felt his gaze sear hot paths up my arms and down my back.

"No more surprised than I was, I'm sure." I whispered. I was afraid my voice would give my attraction away.

"Will you report this to your Faction?"

Ah. So that's why he wanted to talk to me.

"I don't report to them unless I believe you have violated the pact." I said, the word "violated" seemed to drip unusually slow through my lips. I shivered involuntarily.

"And have we?" he asked, moving closer. The way he said "we" was as if it was me and him. It lit an illicit heat between my legs.

"Have you what?" I tried to focus my attention on the task of unpacking my things, but to no avail.

"Violated the pact." he replied.

"No."

"So what happened is just our little secret." he surmised. He was right behind me, and I felt the ticklish way he twirled my hair between his fingers.

Our little secret. Like he was talking about us having an affair, and not the trial and execution of Huilen. Like there was something romantic or sexual going on between us. Like we were hiding from Edward and Sulpicia as we had sex.

Remembering that the door was closed and locked, I turned around and kissed the villain.


	6. Aro

I kissed him. After I'd imagined it so many times I thought I'd known what to expect—_his kiss would fill me with so much heat that I would combust, his lips would taste a little of human blood._ But when my lips touched his, I realized that nothing I imagined, nothing I'd fantasized as Edward and I had sex, was even remotely comparable to the real thing.

His lips were cool, as if begging mine to warm them. His eyes were wide and seemed to take in every detail of my face. His tongue tasted a little of human blood, a little reminder that he was the enemy. The vampire I'd sworn to myself I'd protect my family from. The vampire who wanted to own me and use me for his gain. The king of killers. The villain.

He was illegal. I couldn't desire him without breaking my vows, couldn't even look at him the wrong way without compromising the Faction. And with the way I was kissing him, I was definitely a criminal.

But I didn't care. Something was terribly wrong with me, because I didn't want anything else than to make love to him, and have him make love to me.

I kissed him like my life depended on it. I kissed him the way a drowning man took his last lungful of sweet air. My kiss was greedy, hungry, dirty; ready to take without permission. It wasn't the same way I'd kissed Edward, though I had kissed my husband pretty desperately through the years. This kiss had a different kind of madness, a different flavor of want, a different level of desire.

I was cheating on Edward.

I pulled away first, with great effort on my part. Aro's eyes were dancing, like he couldn't anchor himself enough to reality and was already drifting away. His cock was hard in his trousers. Ready for me.

"Isabel," he moaned. He sounded better than I imagined. "You love me." It was a statement, not a question.

"No." Unable to help myself, I ground my sex down on the steel hardness in his clothes. "I hate you, Aro." I moaned, the illicit thrill of what was about to be was an addictive drug. "You threatened everything I hold dear. You wanted to use me."

"I still do." he grabbed my hips and pushed me down on his erection.

"Damn you." I spat. "I hate you."

He pinned me against the brick walls of the room and smiled. "But you want me."

I didn't answer him. Instead I kissed him again and basked in his throaty growl as he thrust his hips against mine desperately. I felt his erection get impossibly harder. His hands tore at the black silk dress that I'd picked due to Alice's insistence.

"You want me, too." I said fiercely.

Desperation. Hunger. Titillation.

"Yes. I always told you that. You don't know how many times I've pictured you this way, Isabel." he grabbed my breasts as he feverishly licked my lips and humped me. Then his hands spanned my waist, my hips, the back of my thighs. "I've lost count of how many climaxes the image of your face has brought me, lost count of how many nights I imagined you under me, screaming my name as I spent myself between your young thighs."

Spurred on by his sultry voice and the promise of his words, I push him off me and straddled him in the cool stone floor. With no care for his comfort or pleasure, I unfastened his trousers and released his cock. As much as I wanted to study it and compare it to the only other cock I'd seen in my life, I was too excited to even look at it. I remembered seeing a blur of an erect, blood-gorged staff and a bush of black curls, and in the next second I was impaled on it, the slender curve of his cock hitting me in the most pleasurable places.

"Isabel." Aro groaned as his hips bucked under me, plunging his thick, steely cock inside with deep thrusts and quick intervals. His pale alabaster skin glowed under the light of the room, and his mouth was open, making sounds of such pleasure that they drove me mad with lust. I bore down harder on him, eager to feel more of each strong thrust, desperate to meet each mad drive of his shaft inside me. "Yes, Isabel. Take me. Use me. Take your pleasure from me as I take mine from you."

"Aro." I looked at him with hooded eyes and saw his lips parted in bliss, his eyes glazed with lust, his muscular stomach rippling with every thrust he gave. Dizzy with desire, I closed my eyes and reveled in the way he grabbed my hips as if to hold me in place to receive his cock, as if I would disappear if he didn't hold me tightly enough.

"No," Aro held my chin and kissed my lips with maddening heat. I was forced to look into his eyes. "You will look at me, Isabel." He lifted me before slamming me down on himself, the momentum of it making him reach even deeper into me, like he wanted to drill a hole through me to the other side. "You will know and remember that _this_," he punctuated the word with a very sharp thrust, "This is me. Every moment of pleasure," he grabbed my hands and placed them on his ass, and I felt every clench of his muscles as he speared me with his cock, "_Every_ moment of your pleasure, you have taken from _me_." his thrusts became harder than before. "Are. We. Clear?"

"Wait! Stop!" I shrieked against his tongue. He was kissing me with a passion and ardor that I had never expected from him. Not even my wildest fantasies and imaginings were like this, nothing like the fevered and crazed slaking of lust that we were doing. It was wrong. It didn't feel right at all. Yet I was too trapped in pleasure to care. All I wanted was his hard cock inside me, fat and long and virile, grinding into me just like this... "No! This is too much! No! Stop! Oh God!"

He ignored my pleas and thrust even harder and faster, intent on nothing but sexual gratification. There was no change in positions this time, no more caressing, no more kissing, just mindless fucking. Nothing but the wet, repetitive adjoining of hips. "Ah. Yes. Isabel. Never too much. Yes. Never enough." he said, seemingly incapable of his characteristic lengthy sentences. It was the most incoherent I'd ever seen him.

It was the last straw.

"Yes!" I screamed. "Oh God, yes! Harder! More!" my hands on his ass, I split his cheeks and pulled him closer, trying to cram more of him in me.

"Isabel!" he moaned, "Oh Gesù! Gesù Cristo!" His body went suddenly stiff, ramming me deep, and I screamed as I felt his fingers claw into my breasts. I was crammed with his thickness, and I felt him throb hard and knew that he was shooting his semen into me, filling me with his passion.

My head spun with the erotic nastiness of it. I cried out, and then I came too, thrusting my hips down at him in a spasm of heavenly release as he moaned beneath me.

I arched my back and my hands clawed the floor, crumbling the stone as if it were just dried-up mud, as I trembled above him, my venom pooling in my mouth.

I never wanted to come down from that orgasmic high, never wanted to open my eyes again. How could I ever face the shame, the humiliation of letting the enemy reduce me to this state, begging him for anything he wanted to give me?

Maybe Aro knew my shame, or maybe he was ashamed too because he didn't say a word as he slowly withdrew from my body. Still panting unnecessarily, he pulled my fingers from the holes they dug on the floor as he climbed off me and rolled me onto my side as if setting me free. I felt his smooth hands slide away from my skin but didn't move my hands after, as if afraid to reclaim responsibility for them.

I lay there, unable to move, my humiliation warring with a feeling of deep sexual satisfaction like I'd never known. I'd never come like that before—so deeply, so thoroughly, with every part of myself. It had been an orgasm that involved all of me, body and soul, and I didn't know what to make of it or what to make of myself now.

Was this truly who I was?

Aro was staring at me as he slowly regained composure. He reached out and ran a hand appreciatively over my trembling body. He lifted me up with his strong arms and placed me on the queen-sized bed. Which was, knowing how vampires didn't sleep at all, just an accessory to the room.

"Are you hurt?" he asked me softly. I shook my head. It wasn't the right question to ask. I practically ravished him.

"Are you going to tell the others?" I asked, amazed at how calm my voice sounded, how it belied the fear I truly felt.

He sat down on the bed and looked at me, his eyes strangely curious.

"Would you like for me to tell the others?" he asked. The question was rhetorical.

"I'd die if Edward finds out," I said. "He doesn't know anything about this, about who I really want."

"Who you really want?" he mocked. He laughed. "No one knows who they 'really want'. I will not tell the others and if you don't mention it, Edward may never know. I will take measures to keep this from him. But I must remind you of what he can do..."

Edward can read minds. How could I have forgotten? I nodded in horror, not knowing what else to do.

"Good," he said, standing up. He fastened his trousers and buttoned his shirt. "Then we have an understanding."

He went to the door then turned and watched me for a while as I lay motionless on the bed.

I stared back at him. "I'll just ask one question."

Aro looked at me coolly. "What is it, Isabel?"

I swallowed. "Have you done this before? Cheated on your mate?"

He grinned. "You mean Sulpicia. She is no more my mate than young Edward is yours. What is there to cheat?"

When the door clicked shut, I waited for the almost-absent sound of his footsteps to disappear in the hallway.

Aro was heartless. Always invested in the art of finding beauty and always intent on breaking it.

And I was just like him.

I had a beautiful life, a beautiful daughter, a beautiful husband, and a beautiful family. When my lips met Aro's, I'd broken all of them. My phone rang a familiar jingle, and I dreadfully looked at the screen.

It was Alice.


	7. Envy

**A/N: TWO THINGS.**

**First, I hope you noticed that my username isn't chaOs251 anymore. It's Chuable now. Yay! It's awesome! I think. My old username sounded too... I don't know, unladylike? Oh well. I just felt like saying. I would have used Helvetica_Black, except I had a feeling that somebody already owns that username. I haven't really checked, so I'm not sure. And if there isn't a Helvetica_Black yet, well, I call dibs. ;)**

**Second, since I felt weird about my last uploaded chapter (chapter 6) being a sex chappie, I thought that I should put this up "ASAFP," as 01katie so eloquently put it. :) But there were some... difficulties, since I'm in med school and all, and I just had exams. My sincere apologies to those who had seizures after finding out that chapter 6 ended with such a cliffhanger. Hell, I reread chapter 6 and had a seizure myself. Really sorry about that, guys.**

**Okay, I'm done. Carry on!**

* * *

_"Hello, Isabella Cullen."_

_Thank God it's not Alice._

That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the caller's deep voice greet me. Instead of fearing for my best friend, instead of thinking of how terribly wrong it was that a male stranger had her phone, I just felt relieved that Alice wasn't about to confront me about my infidelity. It was silly, since it's not like she didn't know and tell Edward just because she didn't call me, but for some reason, I felt oddly relieved that she didn't. Thinking such a heartless thought made me guilty, but guilt to me was a familiar feeling, almost a close friend. Guilt and worry were my default emotions, and I handled them well. Over the years I learned not to feel them, and when I did feel them, I learned to not let them affect me—not too much, anyway.

But my affair with Aro was a different matter, and the guilt I felt about it was more complex. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a sigh of relief, even as I felt the painful stab of guilt for doing it.

The caller's voice sounded familiar, though, the nostalgic baritone of it begging me to remember who he was.

_You know me, little vampire. You know me._

_"Do you remember the sound of my voice, Mrs. Cullen?"_

Then it suddenly came to me. I held the phone close, quickly checked outside my room to make sure that nobody was listening in, and locked myself in the room before whispering the magical name that at the time made no sense at all:

"Nahuel."

But it was impossible. Didn't Huilen say that she killed him? Didn't the Volturi see evidence of it themselves? What was going on?

He chuckled._ "A very good auditory memory, if I might say. I thought I'd have to introduce myself."_

"You're dead," I said numbly. Nothing made sense. "Huilen said she killed you and your father and sisters. The Volturi saw proof of it."

Something was wrong. There was a nagging sense of foreboding somewhere in my brain, but I just couldn't tell what it was about. It was a weird feeling, like an itch I couldn't scratch because it's not quite on my skin.

_"Oh, did they?" _Nahuel laughed._ "Now that's interesting. And tell me, did my aunt say how she did it? How many pieces she tore us into? Come now, tell me all the gory details. I'm nothing if not a sucker for details."_

I sighed.

"It's good that you're alive, Nahuel." I smiled. "How about your sisters? Did they survive, too? Who else knows that you didn't die?"

There was a long pause before he answered, _"Your family."_

It was like the world stopped. Suddenly I figured out what the weird feeling was about. Nahuel seemed too happy, too nonchalant about the issue. He didn't even ask me about his aunt's death. Not to mention the fact that the phone he was using...

"Where's Alice?" I growled. "How did you get her phone?"

_"Ah."_ he laughed. _"Now she understands. Your seer sister is... _resting_, so to speak."_

"And my family? What did you do to them?"

_"Hold on. What did I do to them?"_ Nahuel sounded incredulous. _"I haven't done anything. Not to all of them. But that could change, depending on your actions."_

"What do you want?"

_"Everything, of course."_ he replied archly. _"But at the moment, I'll settle for just one thing: I want you to kill someone for me."_

"The Volturi will—"

_"Not anyone from the Volturi."_ he said quickly, as if someone was around to overhear him._ "I want you to kill Amun."_

What?

"What?" I screeched.

_"What happened to your auditory memory?"_ his voice was droll. _"I want you to kill Amun. Strange things are afoot, my young friend, and there are things that need to be done."_

"You want me to kill _Amun_? The Egyptian?" I didn't mention that he was one of the Faction heads. "What kind of prank are you playing on me?" I spat. "I'm in Italy. Why don't you just kill him yourself? You think I'd fly all the way back for your little favor? How'd you manage to restrain my family, anyway? Seven vampires, a werewolf and a half-vampire. I don't believe for one second that you have my family captive. If you don't tell me what's really going on, I'm ending this call in five seconds. Five..."

_"You don't have the right to make demands."_ he snapped. _"You want proof? I will give you proof. Here's your daughter."_

I heard some rustling and faint whimpers on the background. Then a faint howl of a wolf. Jacob.

"Renesmee?" I ventured.

_"Mom!"_ it was my daughter's voice, from the melodic inflections and the clear crispness of it, down to the agony and pain in it.

The world resumed its motion, and began crashing down.

"Nessie! Where are you, baby? Did he hurt you?"

_"Mom, he..."_ my daughter broke down into heartbreaking sobs. _"He killed... he killed Aunt Alice, and Jacob couldn't... couldn't..."_

"No!" I screamed. "No, please!" I begged nobody in particular. What happened to Jacob and the wolves? Why didn't they protect my family?

Nahuel took the phone. _"Now, Mrs. Cullen, if you want your daughter back, and the rest of your family, come home. I will be waiting."_

And the line went dead.

"No," I crushed the phone in my hand. "Please, God, not them. Not my family..."

"Shield?" a familiar voice at my door. Anxious and harsh. Caius.

I opened the door to tell him that I needed to fly home, that I needed to save my family. I planned on begging him to do something, I didn't know what. Anything. But when I saw Caius standing there, no words came to mind. Caius hated my family. He had no reason to help me at all. I fell to my knees and looked at his shoes, not knowing what to do or say. I was broken, finally broken. My life wasn't just one I didn't want, it was one I hated. My sister was murdered.

Caius stared down at me as I silently disintegrated at his feet. My tears would have drenched his brown leather shoes had I any.

"Your sister was killed. The seer." he made it a statement. Of course he heard the phone call. What did I expect? Privacy in the midst of the Volturi?

"Please help me, Caius." I whispered.

His cold hand fell on my hair and I looked up at his pristine face. His eyes were serene and he looked so peaceful. When he spoke, he sounded as if he was talking about the beauty of life. But his words were bleak, and they changed me forever:

"You are in so much pain. Do you wish for death yet, young Shield? You are kneeling in front of the enemy. Never kneel until you are ready for death."

He pulled me up on my feet and I held on to his hand like it was my lifeline. He let me.

"Who murdered your sister?" he asked. He made no move to pull his hand from my grip. I expected him to refer to my family with hate, or at least annoyance, but his inflection gave away no emotion. It was like he was just talking about something normal. Nice weather. Pass the salt. Who killed your sister?

"Nahuel." I spat.

He didn't ask any questions. "He lives."

"He has my family. I don't know how, but he has them. Maybe he killed them. What he did to Alice..."

"Aro will not help you." He said flatly.

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I know Aro. He will not help you. You may ask him, but he will not help you."

"Why not? Isn't Carlisle his friend?"

"There is no love lost between Aro and Carlisle. He might even think that the half-breed is helping him by killing the Olympic coven."

At a loss, I asked, "Then who will help me?"

He stared at me and answered, "I will."

"You? You will help me? Why? You hate me. You hate my family."

"I do. But I will help you if you pledge your life to me. Pledge to me your eternity."

I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to pry my hand my hand away from his. "Maybe I should just talk to Aro."

He held my hand firm. "He would ask the same of you."

I glared at him. "That's just it. Better him than you."

Caius raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain?" He wasn't smiling. "I may be severe, but Aro is cruel. I hurt those whom I hate, but Aro likes inflicting pain on anyone. He enjoys it. It excites him."

I sighed. "I'll take my chances."

He gripped my hand until I felt his nails digging into my skin. It didn't hurt, but it was disturbing. "After you ask for his help," he began, "Aro will ask for something in return. Perhaps it is your service, perhaps it is sex. But he will not help you. And you will give him what _he_ wants whatever it may be, but he will not give you what _you_ want. That will hurt you more, and whatever hurts a person more, Aro is _always_ willing to do."

Spoken like one with first-hand experience in Aro's sadistic tendencies. "Fine," I said. "I won't ask him. But what do you get out of it if I pledge my life to you? Why do you even want to help me?

"Simple. I want you." he said plainly.

I scoffed. "You _hate_ me."

"I do, but I want you."

"You know that doesn't make sense."

He shrugged. "Of course it does. Aro wants you. What Aro wants, I desire even more."

Ah. Slippery vampire politics. Caius always talked like a rebel, but he never really acted out on Aro. I thought he was just all bark and no bite. Who'd have known?

His tight grip on my hand just became a whole different level of disturbing.

"What's my life to you?" I asked. "What do you want from me?"

He looked at me angrily. "Are you deaf? I want everything you can offer, everything Aro wants from you. Every blink of your eyelids. Every scream of pain. Every laugh, every sob, every moment of hate and love that you can give, I want."

"And you'll help me save my family."

"Yes." he said, smiling. "So, what say you?"

"You seem sure that I'd give you my life." I surmised.

"I can see it in your eyes, young Shield. I just await your oath."

I sighed, resigned. I'd seen the Volturi's fealty oath carved on the walls of the throne room, and after having learned Italian, I understood the weight behind my words as I swore:

"Prometto sulla mia fede..." _I promise on my faith..._

"Che ho in futuro essere fedeli al Signore..." _That I will in the future remain faithful to my lord..._

"Senza mai causare fargli del male..." _Never cause him harm..._

"E osservare il mio omaggio a lui..." _And will observe my homage to him... _

"Completamente contro tutte le persone in buona fede e senza inganno." _Completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit._

I closed my eyes as I kissed the back of his hand, remembering that this wasn't the only chain that bound me, that I was bound to so many other people. Too many people, as a matter of fact. My coven, the Faction, my husband, my daughter, my sister and best friend. Too many people, too many chains.

When I closed my eyes, I imagined freedom.

When I opened them I saw Caius was grinning, and behind him was Aro, who was looking at me with dead eyes. Eyes that have seen all and forgotten none.

Aro wasn't mad.

He wasn't anything at all.


	8. Audio Transcription 2

**AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION 2**

Doctor: Welcome back.

Patient: It's good to be back.

Doctor: I don't suppose you'd answer my questions from our previous session?

Patient: I would, doctor. Eventually.

Doctor: Of course. Just share what you are willing to.

Patient: No questions today? You disappoint me, doctor.

Doctor: I know that I can't force you to tell me anything.

Patient: (laughs) Ah. So you were told. They told you that they tortured me for sixteen months, didn't they?

Doctor: Yes, they told me.

Patient: And did they also tell you the sort of things they did to me down there?

Doctor: (looks away) I do have some ideas.

Patient: They have this wee little girl that can make you scream with pain. She was beautiful like a doll, but she was a sour little sadist, that girl. Made me scream until my throat became raw. But even then I didn't tell them anything. They bled me dry just to see if I would die, and I didn't and it hurt so much, but still I told them nothing. They pulled out my nails again and again to just to watch them grow back. They pulled them every five minutes every day, again and again and again, until just yesterday, but I still told them nothing.

Doctor: But you will tell me, won't you?

Patient: Yes. Yes, I will.

Doctor: Why?

Patient: (shrugs) My last will and testament, if you want to call it that. The last throes of a drowning man. My angel lust. You know what angel lust is, doctor?

Doctor: (nods) Yes.

Patient: Of course you do. You're a doctor. It's a post-mortem erection in men, sometimes even ejaculation. The very last attempt of man for survival. If he cannot live, then maybe his essence would live on. It is pathetic, I know. The effort is useless, since ejaculating on the floor could hardly beget a man children, but a man can hope, can't he?

Doctor: It is sad. But is that all this is for you? Did you never think of this interrogation as a way to redeem yourself?

Patient: Why should I need redemption? Your friends surely didn't deem me worthy of it.

Doctor: They cling to old ways.

Patient: For a man who claims to have such righteous principles, you sure keep interesting company. They aren't much for justice, those old ones. I was almost glad when you asked them yesterday if you could interrogate me. They stopped the torture, and I was almost glad. Except that you took too long, and I hate you as much as I hate them.

Doctor: (sighs) I see.

Patient: You know, I hate humans.

Doctor: ... I gathered as much. Would you mind telling me why you hate humans?

Patient: I hate vampires, too.

Doctor: That's not a surprise. I'm sure I would hate vampires too if I were in your place.

Patient: My place. That's strange. Do you know where my place is, doctor?

Doctor: ... No.

Patient: My place is on the top of the world. Now, back to your question...

Doctor: Why do you hate vampires and humans? Or will you say the same as you did yesterday, that you hate vampires and humans just because you do?

Patient: No, not at all, doctor. My hate has a reason. I hate humans and vampires because I am neither.

Doctor: And what are you?

Patient: You know the answer to that question.

Doctor: Humor me, then. What are you?

Patient: (smiles) I am a god.


	9. Layers (Aro)

**A/N: CHAPTER TOLD FROM ARO'S POINT OF VIEW.**

** I know I promised two chapters in one upload, but I've been so crunched for time lately that I barely even had the free time to make this.**

**Can you say "med school brain damage"?**

**Okay, okay. So here's 9. Some questions are answered, and some questions get pregnant and give birth to even more questions. I actually have the finished story in my head, I just need to make it into, you know, an actual story. I can't just go "blah blah did this, then blah blah happened, and then they found out that yadda yadda yadda." You know what I mean. A good story is half plot, half story-telling.**

**Anyway. Just read on. :)**

* * *

In some ways, parts of my dear friend Caius will always remain a child. The manner with which he had always carried his resentment with me was always the same, regardless of how immense his age was: he always coveted those I wanted, and he always,_ always_ had me witness his attempts to steal from me. He was never successful, of course, but the redundancy of his thieving endeavors was ridiculous. They bordered on astronomical, and had long since begun in aggravating me. After all, even an old man with all patience has patience that wears thin. Caius had been gorging on my patience, and what little morsel of it I did retain was nigh unto disappearing when I saw Isabel's smooth, pale lips touch the skin of his bony hand.

Ah, Caius. His ability to annoy me was certainly a talent.

I did not doubt that stealing from me delivered him a sexual gratification of sorts. Surely the lascivious smile he was giving Isabel was more due to his successful theft of her than her feminine charms.

And surely, Isabel's gasp was caused by my inopportune appearance, and not my friend's machismo.

Surely.

Yet her lips touched_ his_ skin and not mine. She had sworn her life to _him_, not to me, and she had given_ him_ the eternity that I rightfully deserved. I implicitly understood the game that Caius was so intent on playing with me, the game where my offense meant his victory, yet I still was offended. I quelled the sudden anger that I felt. Being so accustomed to Caius's antics, I made no show of my outrage. It seemed dismal that I had fallen pawn to his game, and I was not about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had won.

"What is this I see?" I asked the unusual pair. Caius smoothly helped Isabel stand, a gesture that was completely unnecessary and also another obvious attempt to rile me.

I schooled my eyes to betray no emotion. I must have succeeded, for I saw no hint of confidence in Caius, only confusion.

"A pledging." he replied succinctly.

"I'm his now." Isabel added with a small nod. Her golden eyes seemed to look to mine for answers, and I refused to give her any. I feared my answers would ruin me.

"Oh?" I mocked. "And what of your _Faction_, dear Isabel? You will leave them to serve your new master?"

She seemed shocked. Not a surprise. "I—" she began.

"She is _mine_, Aro." Caius declared, interrupting her. "She swore as much."

I laughed. I could not help it.

I approached Isabel and held her face in my hands. She smelled of sex and me. I gloried in it and ignored Caius's angry glances.

"You smell fantastic, Isabel." I whispered, loudly enough for Caius to have heard. "My scent is the best perfume you have worn yet."

"You promised." she hissed. I smiled. Did she not smell me on her skin? Did she hope to keep our dalliances secret with flimsy efforts? Her ignorance was hilarious.

"And apparently, so did Caius. What did he promise you, _il mio dolce_ Isabel?" I inquired. "Riches? Power? _Love_?"

"None of those,_ brother,_" Caius spat angrily. "It is between the Shield and I."

Isabel seemed horrified by my touch. I swiftly released her and chuckled. Caius must have terrorized her thoughts of me. Isabel looked at him as if his excrements cured plague and looked at me as if I carried plague. I wondered what lies Caius told her. They must have been astoundingly terrifying.

Or perhaps they were not lies at all.

"I must leave immediately, _brother_." Caius said. He did not seem to be asking for my permission. Isabel clung to his arm like a drowning woman did a lifeline. I tried to ignore the unsightly display and the vexation that it brought me.

"_Leave_?" I asked, affronted. "Leave Volterra?"

Caius spared a quick glance at Isabel, and had I not been staring at him so intently, I might never have seen him do it. "Yes," he replied absently. "To the Americas."

"Whatever for?" I asked. Marcus, Caius and I had never been separated before, that much everyone knew. The logic of it was simple: the three kings were the heart of the council, and apart, we were vulnerable.

Isabel's grip on Caius's arm tightened visibly. Despite my overwhelming irritation, I found myself mightily interested in knowing what was urging Caius to leave the security of home. There was no doubt that Isabel was involved. But how, I couldn't fathom. Her last interaction with my brother was a hostile one, and her sudden faith in him puzzled me to no end. Did something happen between them after our tryst?

"Bring the guard." I said. "If you truly must go on this excursion, bring half the guard."

"Half!" Isabel exclaimed. "Can't Caius handle himself on his own?"

I grinned. She was feisty and wily, my Isabel. She should have known, however, that her attempt at playing a man's ego against himself is useless on vampires used to such ploys.

Caius sighed. "I shall bring one," he said, resigned. "Santiago."

Santiago was more loyal to him than to me. So Caius did not want me to know of what happens on his trip? Intriguing.

"Felix and Jane." I insisted. "I would feel more at ease if you brought our strongest ones with you, dear brother." It was a gamble, for Jane and Felix were vital members of the guard, but there were no imminent threats to our council, so their services were not necessary at the moment. Surely Caius's trip was spontaneous enough that our enemies would not know of it so quick.

Caius was silent for a such a long time that I began to think him mute.

"Just Santiago," Isabel argued. "I am going with Caius on his trip. Or am I not _strong _enough?"

Ah. I had forgotten how shrewd my Isabel could be. I tipped my imaginary hat to her and conceded. I was a patient man. I would know of their secrets soon enough. Especially hers.

"_Cara mia_, you are more than _strong_ enough, I assure you." I said, and left. I walked away from the pair laughing, thinking of how fascinating it would be if Caius was killed _accidentally_. But of course, vampires did not die accidentally.

Ah. How infuriating.

I entered my chamber and for hours, I gaily contemplated Caius's murder, as was my usual pastime.

An annoying ringing noise cackled from a corner, and I cheerlessly realized that Heidi had installed a communication technology called a _telephone_ in my quarters. I held the part that looked like a peculiar bar of soap with enlargements and holes at both ends and held the end with the coil against my ear the way I had seen Jane and Heidi do.

"I have been driven nigh unto mad by this contraption." I said. "It needs to be destroyed, Heidi. I do not want it in my chamber."

"... Master, good eve. I'll arrange for it to be removed, rest assured. But master, are you, by any chance, speaking to the wrong end of the telephone?" she asked.

"The end attached to the coiled rubber is to be held against my ear, is it not?" I asked.

I heard a faint chuckle that sounded like Marcus's. Heidi was contacting me from the throne room.

"No, master." Heidi said plainly. I quickly turned the device around and silently dared my subject to laugh. She did not.

"What news have you?" I asked.

"It's Carlisle, master. He's here and he asks for you."

Without further thought, I placed the speakpiece on the table and left my room immediately, leaving only a trail of wind in my wake.

The sight of the throne room welcomed me. My gaze traveled to the fealty oath carved on its stone walls, to Marcus, who sat still on his throne, and eventually fell on Carlisle, who stood at the edge of the room, an expression of grave sadness on his face. Heidi was nowhere to be found.

"Carlisle!" I exclaimed happily as I walked across the room and approached my seat. "What good tides bring you here? Do you wish to visit Isabel?"

My golden-haired friend stared emptily at the floor, oblivious to my presence.

"Carlisle, Aro speaks to you." Marcus said loudly. "State your business. You know we do not enjoy the presence of Faction in our home."

"Peace now, brother," I told Marcus. "Carlisle is a friend. Such hostility is unwarranted."

Marcus sighed impassively.

Carlisle looked up, and I saw the face I had missed so, the face of a vampire whom I had enjoyed centuries of friendship with. Kind-hearted, golden-eyed Carlisle. Too soft to be suited for power, yet powerful all the same. Perhaps his visit was in behalf of his Faction. It would not have been so hard to believe.

He glanced at the empty throne next to mine. "Caius?"

"Is not present at the moment." I finished for him. I may have sounded angry, I was not sure. The thought of Caius alone with Isabel still bred my fury. "Are you here to visit your daughter, Carlisle?"

"Daughter. My family is dead," Carlisle whispered in a voice too soft even for my acute hearing. Brought back from my dark reverie, I strained to hear his words. "My family... They're all gone. Massacred."

"What do you mean?" inquired Marcus.

"Your family?" I asked, incredulous. "_Massacred_?" The Olympic coven was the strongest coven I knew of. They had a mind-reader, a seer and a shield in their employ. Even with Isabel's absence, the _Cullens_ were far from vulnerable. What could have happened? Surely not the wolves...

"Nahuel." Carlisle said brokenly. "Nahuel slaughtered my family."

"The half-breed?" asked Marcus. He turned to me and continued, "He was killed by his aunt in a fit of rage, was he not?"

"I am sadly as lost as you are, brother." I said. I beckoned Carlisle to come closer. I entended my hand eagerly. "May I?"

I wished to see it. I wanted to see what Carlisle was speaking of.

His hand landed on my palm, and I regretted curiosity. I had seen and given many deaths in my long life. I had pitilessly murdered my sister. I had enjoyed witnessing the excruiating torture and devastatingly slow mutilation of the vampire Sasha when she was found guilty of creating immortal children. But nothing I had seen or experienced was close to the hellish sight I had seen through Carlisle's eyes.

I rose abruptly from my seat. Marcus looked at me with confusion but I was not in the spirit to satisfy his curiosity. With every piece of the intrigue I pieced together, I grew restless.

The telephone. The excursion. Caius's involvement. Isabel's desperation.

"Jane!" I roared.

Jane silently entered the throne room and bowed to me. "Master."

"Caius and Isabel?" I asked. "Where are they?"

"It has been six hours since they have gone." she reported. "He said you knew—"

I nodded. Of course I knew. I permitted it myself.

"Bella is alone with Caius?!" Carlisle cried out.

"It seems Nahuel contacted Isabel, and now she and Caius are on their way to the Americas." I replied.

"No!" He screamed. "She mustn't! I came here to warn her!"

"I know." I said.

"Warn her of what?" asked Marcus. "What is happening, Aro?"

"The half-breed plans on annihilating all vampires," I answered. "Starting with the talented ones."

"Alone?" he asked, puzzled. "A lone half-breed killed Carlisle's coven and the wolves?"

"No," said Carlisle. "Nahuel isn't alone, Marcus. He has his sisters and father working with him, and..." he trailed off.

"And?" Marcus demanded.

I looked at the fealty oath carved on the far wall.

"And," I said what Carlisle was too anguished to say, "Isabel's daughter."


	10. Regret (Jacob)

**A/N: Lo, the shortest chapter!**

**Okay. So I was told by a friend of mine that the suspense build-up in the fanfic was unbearable. She accused me of "unnecessary cliffhangerism." Is that true, guys?**

**Is "cliffhangerism" even an actual word?**

**Also, when I asked another friend to review this chapter so I can do pre-upload touch ups, he accused me of RAPING the semicolon. Have I? Raped the semicolon, I mean. I looked and stared and perused this chapter, but I just don't see it. I didn't much like the use of the em dash (—) because, well, it just doesn't look good. I hate the em dash. Semicolons are so much sexier.**

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* * *

I didn't want to do it.

As my teeth sank on Esmé's flesh, as I ripped her apart limb by limb, as I heard her screams and wails, all I could think about was that I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to kill her. She may have been a bloodsucker, but she was the most loving person in the world. She was even better than most humans. Esmé was a good person, and she didn't deserve the death that I gave her. She was innocent.

So I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to kill her.

But I had to.

I had to please my imprint, had to do _everything_ she wanted. My imprint was my life, my world, my sun and moon and all the stars above. She was beautiful. She was evil. She wasn't the pure little girl I thought she was. She plotted the murder of her own family, and I helped her. I helped her kill her innocent family even though I didn't want to. Her happiness was my priority, and my choices didn't matter. I had to do everything to give her what she wanted. And at the time, what she wanted was for me to kill her grandmother.

I didn't want to kill Esmé, but when my imprint told me that she wanted her dead, Esmé's death became _everything_ I wanted. I began to really want to hurt Esmé. I wanted to tear her to pieces and bathe in her ashes just to show my imprint how much I loved her.

It was a horrifying nightmare.

And what was so scary about it was that it was too easy. It was too easy killing Esmé. She didn't even put up a fight. All she did was scream and beg.

Right at that moment, the moment I separated Esmé's head from her body, I knew that I will never be forgiven. The image of a perfect life was ruined forever. I will be hunted. The vampires will want revenge. My crime was unpardonable.

I cried. Many times, while I ran across the border and went all the way to Vancouver, with my imprint on my back and clutching my fur. I cried and cried until the fur on my face was matted down and soaked. I cried only once before in my life, and that was when Bella's heart stopped beating. I was crazy in love with her back then.

Bells. What would she do if she found out about what her daughter did? What would she think if she knew that I killed innocent and helpless Esmé? Would Bella know that I was forced by my imprint? Would she save me?

Did I deserve saving?

"Jake, are you thinking about my mother?"

A sweet voice. A sound I loved more than anything in the world. It was a voice that terrified me. Renesmee. We stopped in an abandoned cabin in the woods. In my human form, the arctic tundra chilled me to the bone; something that never happened to me before.

"Yeah." I said. I can't lie to her. I can't do any wrong by her. I can't even wish her away.

She kissed the back of my left ear, right where my ear met my neck, and it made me shiver with desire. She was tall now; tall enough to reach my neck with her lips, and tall enough that all it took was a slighht bend of my neck to kiss her. But it was a forbidden desire; forbidden because she was just three years old, and forbidden because I shouldn't be this madly in love with such a monster. But I was a lost cause. I loved Renesmee her whole life, and she was my imprint. That left no room for arguments.

A strange feeling made itself known between my legs.

"You shouldn't worry about her, Jake," Renesmee whispered lovingly, and I tried to focus on anything other than her prefect lips and the slight flush of her cheeks.

"I don't want to kill Mom," she continued. "Nahuel said we'll need her for more important things."

What_ important things_? More killing? She's going to force Bella to kill innocent people like she forced me?

I looked at her bright brown eyes for answers, but I didn't see any. Maybe I had too many questions. Maybe I should just ask one.

"Why did you do it?" I asked. My voice wasn't in the question. I asked it with just a small rush of air from my lungs. I was afraid that hearing my own voice would somehow make it all real, would make me part of the crime.

She smiled at me lovingly. Her beautiful smile made her cruel words all the more devastating and made me want to cry again. "Jake, I didn't do anything at all."


	11. Burns

Dallas was, surprisingly, not as dry as I had expected it to be. It wasn't raining, of course, but the air was just about as humid as blood was red. The moist air turned into little dots of water on my cool skin, and for a moment I was thankful that my skin was cold enough to condense water vapor. Everyone else in town was sweating, after all, so the additional disguise was more than welcome to me. If everyone was sweating as much as they were, it would have seemed obvious that we weren't human if we were dry as powder.

Another thing I was surprised to know was that it was incredibly hard to move around during daylight in such a sunny place. The whole time, we just moved along the shades and shadows cast by houses and buildings. The towns at midday were like labyrinths, and a casual stroll across town, even with vampiric speed, took just about forever out in the sun.

Caius didn't help my mood any. He was not good company. Not because he was dangerous or anything, although he really was. The platinum blond-haired vampire wasn't good company because he inspired so many urges in me, and most of them were murderous.

He glanced my way. "Calm yourself, Shield. We do not hyperventilate."

I ground my teeth together in anger and frustration. I wasn't hyperventilating. I was taking calming breaths to tamp down my murderous urges towards you, thank you very much.

"Calm myself?" I asked incredulously. "How am I supposed to do that? My family's in danger. What part of 'I need to fly home immediately' do you not understand? My family is in danger!"

"I heard you the first time, Shield," he hissed. "I am old, not deaf."

"Really?" I snarled. "You could have fooled me."

"Do not insult our master," was Santiago's harsh whisper.

"Why not?" I hissed at him. I was growing restless every second I spent not knowing what happened to my family. Just the thought of Alice's death...

I turned to Caius sharply. "I'm not your minion until you honor your part of the agreement, Caius. And this," I gestured to the landscape before us, "This is not honoring it."

He groaned in annoyance. Though if it was meant for me or the unusually sunny Dallas sky, I didn't know. I couldn't have cared less, honestly. How Caius felt about anything was at the bottom of my "to-think-about" list.

"It is," he growled. "If you would only keep your silence long enough to understand. Don't make me regret making you mine, Shield."

At the moment, nobody regretted it more than I did.

"What are we doing here?" I finally asked. I kept myself from asking that question because I thought Caius was eventually going to tell me what his plans were. But apparently, the vampire wasn't very charitable with information. "I mean, this is Maria's territory."

I remembered Jasper's stories. I didn't want to be anywhere near the demoness that he described.

Caius only smiled. It was the same smile he smiled when he was talking about exterminating all vampire half-breeds, and I resisted the urge to punch him.

"Worry not, young Shield," He said coolly, as if I had just told him that the sky was blue. "We are not without invitation."

I blinked. "What do you mean, _we are not without invitation_?"

He just looked ahead. "We are here to convene with the rebels."

Say _what_ now? Just the three of us? Was Caius suicidal?

I asked the only question that mattered. "Why?"

Santiago growled and grabbed my arm. "Don't presume to question our master." His voice was soft as feather fall and as just about as harmless as a snake's choking embrace. I cringed, despite myself.

"There are many layers to this game, young Shield," said Caius, his black irises alight with a strange emotion that I could not quite place. "Assume nothing. Think that you are seeing a two-dimensional square, and you will realize that it is a three-dimensional cube. Assumption kills."

"I'll tell you what _kills_," I seethed, "Being in the territory of a rebel army. I'm a shield, but I'm not invincible."

"And not so intelligent too, it seems like," muttered Santiago.

I glared at him.

"We are not here to fight Maria's band of renegades," said Caius. He waved his hand into the air impassively, as if he wanted no further discussion on the topic.

The vampire clearly lost his marbles.

We entered a diner on Caius's orders, and waited until we saw two young vampires and three humans approach us. The vampires bowed to Caius so curtly and so slightly, none of the humans were able to notice the movement. They pushed the humans — two women and one man — into the booth before sitting down themselves. The humans almost vibrated with fear.

"You yell," the male vampire warned them, "Or even give cues that you are captive, and we will kill everyone in this establishment. Do you understand?"

All three humans nodded.

The scene made me nauseous.

"Our Mistress has been expecting you." The first vampire told Caius. He was a thin one, so skinny he could have been a runway model in his human life. He held one human on his left arm, and one on his right.

The second vampire smiled. "And to bid you welcome, she has given you these," she gestured to the three terrified humans, "To do with as you will."

Caius grinned. "Splendid. I have been quite starved as of late."

I frowned. I had never seen Caius impressed by anything, and I didn't know if an impressed Caius was better than a disappointed Caius.

"And you must agree that they do smell luscious." The male vampire added. "We had hand-picked them for your enjoyment."

"I don't want any of these humans," I stated simply, as if I just wanted other humans. I made no reference to my choice of food. I didn't want my diet to be a topic of discussion, because really, there was nothing to discuss. I had a strict no-human diet, and I only preyed on animals. Period.

Santiago snorted. "Deer-eater."

The thin male vampire smirked, while the female vampire openly grimaced.

"Deer?" she asked. She turned to me with a face filled with disgust. "You feed on animals?"

"Actually," I replied, "I'm more for the mountain lions. Carnivores taste better than—"

"My Isabella," Caius interrupted loudly, "Shall want a human. Her experiment with animal blood ends now."

I huffed.

What he called my "experiment" was my whole diet, and I wasn't going to change it for world peace, much less for him.

I stared at him meaningfully, making sure he knew he was going to owe me for my next words, before schooling my expression to obedience. As much as I wanted to bludgeon the back of Caius's head with a sledgehammer, there were appearances to be kept, and if I wanted his help, I had to convince him that I was going to be true to my word, even if it was just appearance-wise. Because let's face it; I wasn't going to be another Santiago. I wasn't about to go on blathering about how _master is this, master is that._ And even if Caius started parting oceans with his mind, I still wasn't going to drink human blood for him.

"Of course," I said with an obvious bow at my _master_. "I only want what my master wishes."

He pushed his hand toward me and without thinking twice, I grabbed it and kissed his knuckles. Hesitation on my part would have discredited Caius, and I knew that in such foreign territory, Caius needed to have a show of power in front of the stranger vampires. Vampires were animalistic that way, and I understood why Caius did what he did. I only hoped he wouldn't do it often. I wanted to limit my hand-kissing to a maximum of once every forever.

After exchanging a few words, the vampires left the diner, leaving me, Caius and Santiago alone in the booth with the three trembling humans.

"What do we do with them?" I asked Santiago in a quiet whisper.

"What we always do with them," Santiago shrugged. "Drink them."

"But I don't—"

"You _shall_, Shield," Caius ordered. "I need your eyes red for the meeting with the rebel leader. You will not disobey me on this."

I bristled. "But there must be another way. Contact lenses..."

"And where will you find them in this dreary place? We are to meet with Maria within the next hour. You must drink your human."

A waitress passed by our booth and asked if we wanted anything. Caius looked at the humans and told them to order whatever they wanted. The three of them all shook their heads. Annoyed, the waitress clucked her tongue and walked away, cursing under her breath.

"I don't want to murder anyone." I looked at Caius pleadingly, hoping he would understand.

However, Caius was Caius, so he didn't understand.

"No." he said so loudly the humans jerked in surprise. "You will follow my order, and that is it. This is not up for discussion, Shield. I will not have you ruining my plans."

"Your plans? What about my plans? When are you going to get to the part where you'll help me save my family?"

Santiago rose from his seat, but Caius put his hand up in a calming gesture. The Volturi king gazed at me with ageless eyes.

"Your seer sister was already killed as a warning. Killing any more would be stupid, if he already sent his point across. The male half-breed will not want to lose any more of his bargaining chips, since each of them would correspond to a request you will do for him."

"How are you so sure?" I asked, hating how small my voice sounded. "He could have killed the rest of them and left just one, and I would still do his bidding. He could have done anything. How are you so sure that they are all safe?"

Caius's eyes met mine, and his expression was neither compassionate nor hateful. "I am sure because I am old, and I had spent millennia doing things that will make the half-breed's acts seem infantile."

* * *

We led the humans to our hotel in file, Caius's walked next to him in front, me and mine right behind him, and Santiago and his behind me. The humans tripped and stumbled all the way, their eyes nervously darting between me, Santiago and Caius. They didn't know what was going to happen. Honestly, I didn't either. Was I going to be a murderer within the next few minutes?

By the time we reached the hotel lobby, I held my breath. If my heart were beating, it would have been palpitating by now. I didn't know if the women Santiago and Caius held in death grips were going to scream bloody murder in the hotel lobby, or if the man whose hand I held was going to yell for help. But they kept quiet the whole time, probably keeping in mind what we were and what we can do. Their silence both relieved and terrified me. I wasn't used to being seen as a murderer.

I tightened my grip on the man's hand and heard his heartbeat pick up. I frowned, and leaned toward his ear. I could smell aftershave from his jaw and shampoo from his brown hair, and the tempting scent of the blood pumping in the veins of his neck. I felt my throat burn in response. It's been a while since I last fed.

"Do you know what I am?" I asked him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but thought better and remained silent.

"Please," I whispered. "Please talk to me."

Behind me, I heard Santiago chuckle at the desperation in my voice.

"I don't know what you are," the man said, his voice shaky and deep. "But I know what you can do. And what you will do."

"I will not do it to you, I swear it," I said, looking him in the eye. "I can't promise the same for your friends, but I promise you, you will not be harmed."

The look in his green eyes was quizzical. "Why? Aren't you just like them?" He gestured to Caius and Santiago.

Caius's shoulders stiffened in front of me, but he never slowed his pace.

"No," I murmured. "I'm different. I won't hurt you. But I'm sorry about your friends, there's nothing I can do for them."

He shook his head. "They're not my friends. I just met them when those two people from the diner dragged me with them. I don't even know their names."

I nodded somberly. "You probably never will." I lowered my voice so that only he and the other vampires can hear. "They will die soon."

His hand trembled in mine, and I rubbed my thumb over his to reassure him. I didn't know what else to do.

"Your hand is freezing," he noted.

"It's part of being what I am." I explained softly. "What's your name?"

"James. James Forester."

I laughed at that. Who would've thought? Another James. It seemed the name James was forever tied to my life. As a human, I met a vampire James, and as a vampire, I met a human James. How weird.

"I met a James once," I clarified for him upon seeing his confused expression. "He gave me a scar on my wrist."

James lifted the hand that held his and ran a finger across the crescent-shaped scar. I felt myself shudder as he did so. The scar was just as cold and hard as the rest of my body now, but its shape remained, as it will remain forever.

"He bit you?"

"Among other things," I said vaguely.

"Where is he now?"

"Dead."

We entered the elevator in silence, James's hand gripping mine in fear. I rubbed his back comfortingly, ignoring Santiago's mocking remarks and Caius's disapproving glares.

"Which floor?" asked the guy near the panel. His eyes fell on me and became glassy, and I found myself wondering again what was so dazzling about me.

"Twelfth." Santiago replied without missing a beat, snapping the guy out of his stupor.

"Right," he said nervously, fumbling for the "12" button. James decided to put him out of his misery and pressed the button himself.

* * *

The six of us stood in the soundproofed room, three humans and three vampires. I've seen how the Volturi fed, so I knew that Caius was going to feed first. Vampires couldn't risk going feral at the same time in one room, so it was a one-at-a-time thing. I didn't mind not going on hunting mode with them. I liked my privacy.

Not that I was going to need it, since I wasn't planning on feeding on James in the first place. But...

"James."

He swallowed. "Yeah?"

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three. Why?"

_He's young, _I reminded myself._ Too young to die, with too much to lose._

"Do you have a family? Kids? A wife?"

"I live alone." he looked confused. "Why are you asking me these things?"

I looked at Caius and Santiago. Caius was about to bite his human's neck, and I held my breath.

"Caius?" I whispered hesitantly.

He turned to me, jet black eyes angry and impatient. "What is it?"

I bristled. "I just... Can I leave with my human for a while? I don't want to watch you feed."

He seemed to ponder over my question a bit, before his attention fell back on the small pulsation on the human woman's neck. "Fine," he ground out. "But you are not to let him free. You must show me the body. You know the law we follow, Shield. See that you do not break it."

"I won't," I said hurriedly, dragging James with me to the hallway.

"What's wrong?" James asked as soon as the door closed behind us.

"I can't bear to be in a room with the scent of blood in the air," I muttered. "I'm too thirsty, and I might accidentally hurt you."

I tried not to think about how reminding myself that he was a person didn't help at all. His scent made it all too easy to think of him as food, and if I'd been in that room with James when Caius started feeding...

I shuddered.

James looked away in embarrassment. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

For some reason, James reminded me of myself when I was human. "It's okay."

He took a sharp breath in. "So, are you like, a vampire or something?"

His reluctance to ask the question made me smile. "Yes. It seems obvious with all the bloodlust business, right?"

"I wouldn't have thought it if you hadn't mentioned blood. You look too..."

"Freaky? Deformed?"

"_Young_," he said quickly. "I was going to say _young_. And you're not freaky or deformed. How old did you say you are?"

I laughed. "I didn't. I'm nineteen."

"Okay. And how long have you been nineteen?"

I felt my lips twitch not the beginnings of a smile. "A while," I said vaguely, remembering how frustrating it was for me when Edward answered me the same way.

_Edward_.

I gasped. Edward had slipped my mind. My whole family slipped my mind! What was I doing, enjoying playful banter with a human I barely knew, when my family was in danger? What was happening to me?

Suddenly, everything was too much. Things that were small and insignificant, and things that were big and important, all swirled in my head like meat in a meat grinder. It was suddenly too much. My marriage was falling apart, I cheated on my husband with Aro, I let Alice die, and Renesmee... I wasn't doing anything to save my daughter! Caius was stringing me along with his empty promises, and I was going with it like a mindless puppet, because I knew that I can't do save my family without his help.

So where did that leave me? Stranded in Dallas, with two jerks of vampires for company and a human stranger to take care of, in the middle of the territory of rebel vampires. How did I get myself into this situation?

I felt pathetic.

"Miss?" James asked softly, his hand falling on my shoulder. "Miss, are you okay?"

I didn't want to hurt him. That was what I told myself after I did it. I didn't want to hurt James, and I didn't want his blood. Those were lies, of course. Because in my daze, the scent of his blood called to me, and before I knew it, my teeth were suddenly in the flesh of his neck, his sweet blood trickling down my burning throat. I wanted to think that it was horrible, that it was a sin. But when I tasted James's blood, I couldn't. Because it _wasn't_ horrible. It _wasn't_ a sin. Something that tasted so good couldn't have been. If anything, it was a blessing, a gift from Heaven.

Heaven. The one place I was never going to see.

Suddenly, something snapped inside me, and for some reason, it me see clearly again. Something made me realize what a terrible thing I've done. I jumped away from James, appalled by what just transpired. I can't believe I drank from him. I kept my teeth in his flesh and pumped venom in his veins, and now if I sucked it out, I was going to end up darning him and killing him. There was nothing I could do, so I just held his hand as the burning overtook his body.

* * *

A/N: Y'all owe cluckyducky78 for this. :)


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